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Tale of Thousand Stars or Bad Buddy?

Unpopularopinionbydemand

Another day of me sitting around bored, so this question had popped up in my mind and I'm curious how others feel. I saw the discussion on 2Gether or BB, so it made me think of this.

Tale of Thousand Stars or Bad Buddy? 

I'll go first. 

I can't help but fall in love with the main leads of Bad Buddy. I mean, who wouldn't? Ohm is an all-in-one actor who could make chemistry with a tree if need be, and Nanon is a versatile performer who has the ability to play any character thrown at him. Mix those two and you have yourself a successful BL series. So on my scale of which one I prefer, TOTS is teetering, but I'll tell you why BB hasn't surpassed it yet.  One, if we're comparing the two setting-wise, then TOTS takes the cake. But what could pass it, since TOTS takes place in a village surrounded by mountains and hills and absolute breathtaking scenery? I will give BB its kudos though since the rooftop looks magical. On the acting scale, I would say both are equally brilliant. There's no one in BB or TOTS that I can think of in which their acting was just okay or noticeably bad. Each person understood their roles and performed them to their best ability. On the comedic side of both shows, BB would win since it's targeted more as a comedic series than TOTS which was a bit more dramatic. The chemistry between both main couples is out of this world. I give TOTS the crown since it was able to show their passionate chemistry way before any physical intimacy happened. BB did a good job at this too, but their connection felt stronger after they kissed. Lastly, I fell in love with not only the main leads in TOTS but the entire cast. Side characters, townies, even the children. I was able to find a liking in each character which pushed my love for this show further. With BB, I can't exactly say the same thing, since my love comes only from the main leads and PaInk. Everyone else I feel like I could care less about, especially Pat and Pran's bickering facility friends. Also, I feel like Drake was given a decent side role in TOTS than in BB where he plays a very one-dimensional dude in engineering, given maybe one to two lines, and that's it. I believe both of these shows' popularity is pretty much equal (BB will for sure pass up TOTS view-wise since it has a two-episode advantage), but let's be honest, nothing will most likely surpass the success of 2Gether, which only really gain its popularity since both leads are unbearingly attractive, and because it was airing during the beginning of the pandemic, which was a blessing in disguise for GMMTV. The first episode alone has over 50+ million views (that has accumulated over time) that BB altogether has barely reached, with TOTS just narrowly over that by 20 million more. 

Scores: 

Prodution:  BB (9) ~ TOTS (9.5) 

Acting: BB (9.5) ~ TOTS (9.5) 

Plot: BB (8.5) ~ TOTS (9.5) 

OST: BB (8.5) ~ TOTS (9) 

Chemistry between leads: BB (9) ~ TOTS (9) 

Side Characters: BB (7.5) ~ TOTS (9) 

DRAKE (yes he's a category): BB (4) ~ TOTS (7) 


TOTS is the winner for me, but I'm curious to see what you guys think? Again, this is just supposed to be for fun, nothing has to be serious, just some fun debating cause I love reading other people's views and arguments. I also know that BB hasn't finished airing, so my feelings towards it could be completely different from now until then. But please don't get me wrong! I still love Bad Buddy, and I'm loving where it's headed. However, we still have to get past the dreadful episode 11, which hopefully isn't stupid misunderstandings or bad communication. 

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deetsy

LMAO Drake as the category on its own, yes!!!

Personally I feel more consumed by BB. I didn't feel that crazy about TOTS, it was beautiful etc, but BB for me just set the standards outside the Earth's orbit. If they continue like this, it will be my absolutely fav Thai BL.

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dannyvan

To me the seven episodes of Bad Buddy have delivered more in terms of the leads' relationship than all the episodes of ATOTS. ATOTS took waaaaaay too long to have them become an actual couple.

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Saerapark9

unpopular opinion but I just couldn’t get into ATOTS . Don’t get me wrong I love the their chemistry in ATOTS, plots , and the actors were very good but it was way too slow for me .  As for Bad Buddy we only had 7ep of Bad Buddy and I’m already so drawn into it. I can’t get enough of them . It was like when I watch ITSAY 😭 

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BL_Boy

For me, ATOTS also takes the crown. But I also think it's a bit unfair to compare them. Other than both being P'Aof's children and starring Drake in a supporting role, both series, in my opinion, are made for different audiences. I absolutely LOVED ATOTS (it's my absolute favorite BL) but I also know it's not for everyone because of the pacing. I personally loved the slow burn of ATOTS because it heightened the emotional connection between Tian and Huana. It wasn't just physical, but they clearly had deep feelings for one another. 

In comparison, Bad Buddy's pacing is drastically different. They're moving at rapid speed, which works for the show's premise. It doesn't surprise me that in 7 episodes we've gotten so far because I don't think a slow burn would work for Pran and Pat's development as both characters and a couple. Bad Buddy also takes a lot of the classic tropes from BLs that we've come to both love and loath, but somehow make it seem fresh and exciting again. ATOTS, on the other hand, went a completely different direction. I honestly think ATOTS should have gotten more attention given its exploration of a different, relatively more mature, plot, its beautiful setting/cinematography, and excellent acting. 

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jpny01
 Saerapark9:

unpopular opinion but I just couldn’t get into ATOTS . Don’t get me wrong I love the their chemistry in ATOTS, plots , and the actors were very good but it was way too slow for me .  As for Bad Buddy we only had 7ep of Bad Buddy and I’m already so drawn into it. I can’t get enough of them . It was like when I watch ITSAY ? 

I sort of agree - ATOTS was going well for me, and then it took a bad turn near the end with a bunch of ridiculous manufactured drama that had all the characters behave like totally different people, and then their getting together was anticlimactic and basicaly non-existent.

To me BB is better - Earth did a great job with repressed emotion, but in the confrontation between Ohm, Nanon, and Jimmy in Ep 5 we had very powerful performances from all three - that was worthy of the best stagings of Romeo & Juliet.

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jpny01

@joni - I had a totally different reaction to ATOTS than you did. I thought Earth's performance was incredible - playing an emotionally repressed character and still letting us see what he's feeling is difficut and he mastered it. I thought Mix was much weaker and suffered in comparison to Earth.

Earth was as good as Ohm and Nanon, but the latter two are really at the top of the heap, and although he doesn't have too much screentime, Jimmy has been awesome too - I can't wait to see his series as as lead.

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jpny01

I give it comfortably to Bad Buddy - so far. There's still time to ruin it.

I thought ATOTS had an imbalance of acting ability between Earth and Mix, and I thought the plot of ATOTS was a tad ridiculous and fell apart near the end when the series went for rather lame drama that made everyone act totally out of character to suit the plot, and the way the passage of time works was annoying, like when Mix apparently sat on that rock by the creek for 12 hours, and later several people teleported deep into the jungle (without any light).

But what really was the plot? A girl that we don't care about is run over by a car but shows up all the time to ruin things anyway, and the recipient of her heart is driven by that heart to go teach English in the mountains, meets a boy, falls in love, the end.  Who was Chief? We got no insight into his past or motivations. Tian didn't really have a character arc - he was an asshole, then literally had a change of heart and became a nice person. That's it. The show depended on scenery and Earth's acting.

Bad Buddy, on the other hand, has the plot outline of a masterpiece of literature and the writing is much more clever. Having the Montegues and Capulets be Engineers and Architects was inspired (as to build anything, both are required), and the ideas of the play are presented in an creative and interesting way. Aof has managed like Shakespeare to pull off intgrating comedy and drama - contrast that with Baker Boys where it doesn't work at all.

The acting in BB is fantastic all around, with the three most important characters all acted superlatively - that scene in Ep 5 wouldn't have worked if Jimmy couldn't keep up with Ohm and Nanon, but he did - he was powerful and menacing.  All three are putting in what is in my opinion the strongest acting we've gotten in a BL, including ITSAY, although the latter was still better in everything else.

I love a slow-burn romance, but the long buildup of tension has to go somewhere - there needs to be a payout to the audience or why did you bother? In ATOTS it was weak. Not as bad as 2gether, but it really wasn't very satisfying, and it even felt unearned after the horrendous mess of Ep 9 which never really had the conflicts resolved - instead they were waved away by Chief being nearly killed again. Half the show had one of the main characters in a coma at the hospital. And where the f@#$ was that hospital? At times it seemed 20 meters away, and others it was halfway to Chiang Mai. The answer is, it was as close as it needed to be for the plot.

And in the end, I enjoy watching BB a lot more than I did ATOTS. That's all that really matters.

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Unpopularopinionbydemand

I'm seriously loving all these answers!

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humangarbage

In my personal opinion, I love BB a tad bit more. I think they both sit in my top favs but the one problem I had with ATOTS was the end. In the ending episodes they put a lot of clichés and unneeded drama in to keep the plot going. it was pretty obvious they were kinda improvising near the end. In terms of everything else, I think they both sit pretty evenly though I will give acting to BB (I may be a bit biased toward anything and everything with Ohm in it). Honestly, they're not two drama's you can fairly compare as both have very different plots. I think ATOTS did an amazing job with the complex plot they were given, whereas BB has done an amazing job taking an overused plot and managing to make it fresh and new. ATOTS was so spectacular because it was something new with a unique premise and pretty new cast. BB is so marvellous because it brings that sense of comfort when you watch rom-coms and it hooks you in with it's perfect placement of clichés. The cast is also pretty familiar, being GMMTV's most well known actors. However ATOTS OST will always be one of the best I've heard!

either way, they're both amazing drama's :D

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Aaku

With no ounce of doubt it's Bad buddy for me. Bad buddy has my emotions wrapped around it's finger. It makes me laugh, it wrecks my heart, it makes me go all aww on them, it gets me furious, it makes me anxious and it doesn't fail to make me scream in each and every episode. 


For ATOTS that wasn't the case for me. No doubt the storyline was good, even the actors were but it didn't manage to get all these reactions from me. I was just simply watching. It was too slow paced. Moreover when Phupa exposed Tian's secret in front of the villagers and acted so cold to Tian, I was done. I was like now Tian deserves better much better than this. So that's where the real downfall started for me. 

So without any ounce of doubt, it's Bad buddy for me.

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jpny01

That reminds me - that whole meeting with the villagers killed it for me. A guy says "She's dead and I'm responsible", and not one single person has a follow-up question? Like, "Do you mean you stabbed her or something, and therefore we should not let you wander around where our children are?" And why didn't Tian make that clear and tell them, instead of phrasing it in such an ambiguous way? Everyone would understand and think it was noble. And shouldn't the doctor have been fired and had his medial license revoked for disclosing a patient's medical data? And would Chief ever do that in public especially as it was clear Tian was saying something important? TBH, after all that it would have been a better ending if Chief died. Like:

"I didn't tell you because I thought you were in love with her and I was afraid."

"I was never in love with her - it was always you." [Dies] 

Or lives, or better yet if none of the nonsense of the last eps happened. Anything would have been better. Well, it would have been a little silly if aliens attacked, but it would make more sense than what we got.

But before that the series was almost perfect. 

That's why I'm a little scared about this series (BB) - it's almost too good to be true. But if it's based on Romeo & Juliet, there's going to be some serious sh#$ that goes down, so at least in this case you can see drama coming and it makes sense. Wai is in the Tybalt position, and there's the parents - both are potential disasters. Hopefully it won't have the play's ending! [Play spoiler: everbody dies.] So far there's been no Friar Laurence to come up with an incredibly stupid plan, so that's good at least. I have my eye on that food stand owner, though...

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Synchonicity

ATOTS by a mile.  It's my favorite BL of all time (so far).

For me, Bad Buddy is cute, a bit ordinary but a pleasant enough way to pass the time.  ATOTS is a masterpiece, very complex and with gripping drama.  I can't even compare the two.

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Su

I have watch a lot of BL series and i'm a waanjai. I fall in love with Mix when i watch ATOTS. I was skeptical to watch bad buddy as im a namon shipper. haha. but god. GMMTV just literally crush me. Ohm and Nanon show perfect chemistry with cliche storyline.  Every week, I will rewatch all episodes before the new episode.  Bad buddy surpassed all BL series that i ever watch and ever love.

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